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MHG21208 - Inverewe House

Summary

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Type and Period (1)

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Full Description

Thumbnail Photo of mansion
Wester Ross Project - Cathy Dagg, 03/04

NG88SE 35.00 8589 8193
NG88SE 35.01 centred 8585 8205 gardens
NG88SE 35.02 8620 8186 visitor centre

The original Inverewe House, which stood on this site, was built in 1862 but was destroyed by fire in 1914. The replacement house was built in 1937.
Photographs RC/748 and D80206/PO show the original 1862 Inverewe House, while photographs RC/963/24 and RC/963/25 show the 1937 house.
Owned by The National Trust for Scotland since 1952.
REFERENCE: SCOTTISH NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY
Country Life July 15th 1949 -article and photographs <1>

Inverewe House and Gardens were identified in the Nation Trust for Scotland's DBA and walkover survey in 1998 (INVG013). It was noted that Inverewe House was built in baronial style in 1862-4 by Osgood Mackenzie and his mother, but the house was destroyed by fire in 1914. The Gardens were fenced in 1864 and begun in 1865. In 1937 Mackenzie's daughter, Mrs Maid Sawyer, had a new, white-harled house built on the previous house site. It was designed by Tarbolton and Ochterlony.
In 1952 the House and Gardens were given to the NTS and, in 1965, a visitor centre was built at the drive entrance. It was extended in 1979 and a new restaurant was built at the N end of the carpark in 1997.
There has been no attempt to survey the gardens. However, Osgood Mackenzie suggests that the site for the house may have been that of the only green patch in the area, which was the site of the cattle herdsman's bothy, originally the Mackenzies of Lochend (Inverewe) long house. Whilst this attribution is not altogether certain, it is clear that when the big house was built there was a dyke running across from the shore just W of the House to the shore at Camas Glas. This was used to ensure that the cattle stayed to the W on the small peninsula of Am Ploc and each night.
The house is in stable condition and is managed by NTS. <2>

Architectural and historical research has been undertaken and a conservation statement prepared for the NTS by Andrew PK Wright in 2008. The purpose of this was to guide future decisions on the conservation of the house and the surviving collections housed within it. <3>

Sources/Archives (4)

Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NG 8588 8193 (40m by 40m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NG88SE
Geographical Area	ROSS AND CROMARTY
Civil Parish	GAIRLOCH

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